


It Started With a Phone Call

by minikyojin



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Post-Canon, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-09-17 00:18:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9295931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minikyojin/pseuds/minikyojin
Summary: After the events of Yuri!!! on Ice, Phichit has decided that it's time for him to move on from professional ice skating and follow his new dream. But after he made it public knowledge that he was quitting, he got so many mix responses from people that he started to question if what he was doing was really the best choice for him. But everything starts to change after he gets an accidental call from a not too sociable skater, Seung Gil Lee. Will Phichit be able to follow through with his new dream, or will it crumble below him?





	1. Chapter 1

“Wow, so you’re really quitting?” Yuuri looked like his heart was broken in two when he managed to ask him that. He wouldn’t admit it, but it was clearly shown all over his face, but Phichit didn’t want to point that out. It was a hard decision for him to make, and he wanted Yuuri to be the first person he told about it.

“Yeah, I thought it would be the best next step in my career.” despite how hard it was for him to admit it, Phichit wasn’t sad about this at all. “Last year’s Grand Prix Final was the high point in my career, and I don’t think I could ever top what I did there. Plus, I managed to perform to “Shall We Skate” in front of the world. You know how big a deal that was, right.”

“Yeah, I remember.” Seeing Yuuri’s expression change from a pained one to a warm smile was enough to show that phichit was making the right decision. “So what’re you going to do now?”

“Well i got a new dream I want to get off the ground.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Uh-huh. I’m gonna start my own ice skating show. Don’t have to worry about competitions or scoring, just giving the audience a good show and helping spread my love for it. And hopefully get people inspired to try it for themselves someday.”

“Hehe, yeah, that sounds just like something you would do.” The two of them shared a good chuckle, before they were cut off from some angry yells in the background on Yuuri’s end.

“YUURI! GET OFF THE PHONE AND GET BACK TO PRACTICE!”

“R-Right! Sorry Coach Yakov!” Yuuri replied back, his voice a bit shaken from the sudden yelling. “Sorry, I gotta go Phichit. Talk to you later. Lā k̀xn.”

“Alright. Later Yuuri.” With that Yuuri hung up their call, leaving Phichit all by his lonesome. Well mostly. His hamsters were more than willing to keep him company while he relaxed.

He let out a relieved sigh, giving his grey hamster a little pet as it sat on his shoulder, staring down at his phone. “Well that went better than expected Ngein.” He gave his hamster a little scratch under its chin, getting a pleased expression on it face. “I’m sure Chao Chao is going to be a little hurt when I tell him about this. But hey, he’s really supportive, maybe it’ll be alright.”

By now, his gold hamster was feeling a bit lonely not getting any attention and started to crawl up on Phichit’s arm, with his bronze one was sitting by itself nibbling on some lettuce. “Alright, time to call Chao Chao.”

He scrolled through his contacts, finding Celestino’s contact, taking a look over at the clock to make sure it wasn’t too late [or early] to call, and hit the call button, seeing Celestino’s face light up as it rang. After a few rings, he heard an oh too familiar voice. “Ah Phichit, chao chao! Didn’t expect to get a call from you.”

“Hey Celestino. You got a minute to talk?”

“Yeah, I could spare a few minutes. So what’s up? Did you figure out what you wanted to do for the next season?”

_Getting right to the point huh?_ Phichit took a deep breath and just let it out. “I think I’m going to go through with quitting professional skating.” They sat in silence for a moment, Phichit trying to be patient in hearing Celestino’s reply, but every passing second just made him feel more and more anxious. Would he get a lecture? Or would he be supportive? Either one was likely at this point.

“And you’re sure about this?” Celestino finally spoke, slightly startling Phichit , and making his hamsters jump.

“Yeah. While I love how things have been up to this point, I don’t think things can get any better than how they were last  year.”

“I see. You were at the top of your game last season. This isn’t because of the final results of the GPF is it?” Phichit knew he should have seen that coming. A lot of his friends, and even some fans he didn’t realize he had, were worried that he would quit because he ended up in last the past Grand Prix Final, but that was far from the truth.

“No no, not at all. I didn’t mind where I placed after I got to perform “Shall We Skate”, and I just got done telling Yuuri this but-”

‘Ah, so you already called Yuuri about this? What did he say?”

“He seemed kind of sad that I want to quit competing but he understood and we had a good chuckle about it.”

“Why am I not surprised? So you’re sure this is what you want to do?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“Well then I don’t think I can talk you out of it, even if I wanted to. Though tell me, what do you plan to do now. I hope you’re not giving up the sport completely.”

“Ah no way! I could never do that! I actually want to start my own skating show, so I can forever do what I love.”

“Is that right?” Phichit didn’t like that change in Celestino’s tone, and his previous relief over how supportive he was up until now just vanished. “And just how much thought have you put into this?”

“Well, I want it to be based around the cultures and songs of Thailand, to help show love for my country. I also have some costume designs drawn out, though granted they look like scribbles right now, but the idea and basic concept is there!”

“Is that all?”

“Well, it’s just a start.” He could hear Celestino let out an unimpressed sigh on the other end of the line. Not a good sign.

“You do know that it takes a lot more than simple plans like that to start a skating show.”

“Well yeah…I know…” Celestino sounded like he thought that Phichit was just having one of his random thoughts that didn’t have any chance of getting up off the ground, but Phichit was determined to let this happen.

“Look, I don’t mean to sound like a downer, but I want you to know what you’re getting in to. Whatever you plan to do, I’ll help support you as best i can, but I don’t want you to get your hopes up on something and it comes crashing down.” The blunt statements just seemed to make Phichit start to doubt his efforts, but he knew that Celestino was they type to state what he thinks and not dwell on feelings, just facts. And he respected that about him.

“Yeah I know. But this isn’t going to come crashing down, you can count on it!” Despite how harsh Celestino’s words were, Phichit didn’t feel as down about it as he thought. He was expecting to get something much worse, but this is just helping motivate him even more.

“Alright, glad to hear it. Just make sure you plan this all out, and don’t cut any corners. Listen I have to go now, but get back to me when you have more planned out. I might be able to help out in one way or another.”

“Yeah, of course! Thanks Celes! Talk to ya later!” Phichit was the one who hung up first this time, and he could finally let out a large sigh of relief. “Well guys, we lived through two calls today.” He looked at his hamsters, who seemed to be pleased with what happened, even though they most likely had no idea what was going on.

“Might as well get the word out with everyone else.” Phichit wasn’t going to risk calling everyone in his contacts, fearing he might accidentally interrupt their practices and end up in calls that last for hours on end when it could just end in five minutes [it’s happened one too many times before, so he knows], so he made a status on all of his social media platforms that read;

_To all friends and family, and most likely to all of my wonderful, beautiful fans out there who have helped support me throughout the years. It’s with a heavy heart that I must say that as of now, I, Phichit Chulanont, am going to retire from professional figure skating. Now before anyone asks, because I’m sure that there are some of you out there, this is NOT because I’ve lost my love for the sport. It’s the exact opposite. I love the sport too much, and I want to expand it in a way that will get others into the sport I love so much. I won’t go into details right now, but when I get more things planned out, I’ll let you all know what I plan to do from here on out. And hey look on the bright side. I’m going to be on all of my social media’s even more than I was before now, so there’s a plus side right there. Thank you to everyone who’s followed me and watched me evolve into the skater I am today, and I hope what I have planned for the future will be just as good, if not better, than I imagine it will be. I’ll see you guys later, and remember to keep in touch~ :-)*_

The second, no wait, the **instant** that Phichit made that post, he got countless messages and replies from friends and fans a like.

**No you can’t quit!**

**NOOO You were the king AND the Skater!!**

**SAY IT AIN’T SO!!!**

**What about the hamsters!**

**What a post with no selfie? Who are you and what have you done with the real**

**Phichit?**

**Don’t quit skating! Q_____Q**

**TT^TT TT^TT TT^TT**

“Wow, such a response.” He was surprised that the messages just kept increasing more and more, he even heard his phone ring a few times afterwards, afraid to answer to get either his friends or family yelling at him on the other end, though he never moved his phone out of arm’s reach and just stared as his texts were just blowing up.

Leo: Phichit you sure about this? Call me when you can.

Guang-Hong: Does this mean we can’t meet up anymore? I hope not. Call me.

Other Yuri: Why the hell is your feed blowing up my pages?! We’re not even friends! [Blame your Yuri for me getting your number]

Viktor: Yuuri’s busy at the moment, told me to text you and say that you should probably avoid the social medias for a while. Also, hello~!

Otabek: Yuri is pretty mad right now, so sorry if he sends you an angry text.

Chris: Oh Phichit, you really know how to get the skating community in an uproar~

It was kind of strange to get such a variety of responses from his post. Though he didn’t know why he was shocked. He played through this scenario countless times in his head, and in turn he was living through it countless times right now, so he didn’t know what he why he was expecting anything different.

He continued to stare at his phone as it got call after call from his friends. He was half tempted to actually turn it off for the night so he could catch up on his sleep, but it just seemed like things aren’t going to go as he planned as he saw the final call coming in.

“No way.” Against his better judgement, Phichit answered his phone. “Seung-Gil?” He was surprised him of all people called him. Not because he thought he was worried about him quitting, but because he was shocked that Seung Gil actually knew how to make phone calls.

“Yes. Who’s this?” his voice sounded as monotone as ever, though Phichit was confused why he didn’t know who he called.

“Uh, it’s Phichit. How come you called me?”

“Oh I called you? Well my mistake.”

“Oh, who were you trying to call?”

“The sister to those twin skaters. She’s been pretty persistent in trying to get me to answer my phone, so I was trying to call her and show her how inconvenient it is to call at late hours in the day.”

_Oh right, the Crispino twins_ . _I guess our last names are pretty close. I wonder how many numbers are in his phone._

“What time is it over there in Italy?”

“I would guess it’s about 4 in the morning for them.”

“What!? That’s so cruel!”

“I didn’t expect for her to answer, and was going to leave a message telling her to leave me alone with all of her calling.”

“Couldn’t you just do the same thing in texts?”

“I’d rather not waste the time with texting.” _Makes sense…_ “Anyway, sorry for any inconvenience. I’ll be going now.”

“Uh, wait!” Phichit was surprised that he actually wanted to keep Seung Gil on the phone. Not because he didn’t want to talk to him, but this was such a rare occurrence, he just couldn’t pass it up.

“Is there something you needed?”

“Uh, well, I was just wonderin’ how you’ve been? I never get to do calls with you and figured I might as well ask.”

“Is that all you wanted?”

“Well yeah. Nothing wrong with random little chats with friends every once in a while right?”

“We’re friends?” Phichit wasn’t going to lie, that one stung a bit, but he wasn’t going to let that show through the phone.

“Well yeah. I mean you got my number don’t ya? And I got yours, so that means we’re friends.”

“To be honest I didn’t know I had you in my contacts, which just makes this whole conversation even more inconvenient to a point.”

“‘To a point’?”

“I’m not one for conversations over the phone if it doesn’t serve a purpose.” _Understatement of the century_. “However, it isn’t aggravating or annoying speaking to someone like you. I can at least honestly say that it’s kind of a relief you’re not the energetic type over the phone.”

Phichit was surprised he heard Seung Gil say so much at once, but he didn’t dare say that out loud. “So I guess this call was a good thing.”

“To a point.”

“Yeah yeah to a point. But uh, hey, if you want. You can call other times too. Like when you need a cool down after your practice or something like that.”

“Why would I do that? This just happened to be an accidental one time thing.”

“Well it’s just an idea. Could be a good way to mix up this year’s competition training.” He knew he wouldn’t need something like this, but Phichit thought it might be a good thing for Seung Gil. At least it was as good of an excuse as any he could think of to try and get more interactions with Seung Gil in the future. It didn’t hurt to try.

“I’ll see, but I highly doubt that I’ll be doing something like this in the futures. Again, apologies for calling you by accident. I must go.” Without even saying goodbye, Seung Gil hung up, leaving Phichit alone with his phone and his hamsters.

“Man, I didn’t think this would be so stressful.” He sighed, falling back on his bed, tossing his phone to the side. “Maybe I just need to take some time for myself for the rest of the day...or week...or month…” He just wanted to relax before he planned out his skating show. He was going to make this a thing, and he was going to go through it with a smile on his face.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phichit is kind of at a hard point in his planning for "Phichit on Ice". With his social media still blowing up days after his initial post about quitting, he feels that taking some time at the end of the day to get out there and do what he loves so much, even if it was just for fun. Hopefully for him, he can find the inspiration to continue his new dream and not be forced to live with the regret of his choices, and hopefully he can find the true inspiration to continue with what he wants to do.

“AHH! Why is this so hard!?” Phichit yelled in frustration before practically slamming his face into his desk. He made it a point to try and avoid his social media to try and focus on his skating show, which proved to be difficult in more ways than one.

For starters, he forgot to turn off his notifications for the first few hours of his “media fasting”, which just tempted him to go online, and even when he shut off his notifications, the need to see how his friends were doing, and see how many notes his last status got him, and that just drove him even more mad than when he was getting seemingly endless notifications.So, he would constantly turn his notifications on and off depending on his mood over the next few days. Everything besides that seemed to be a cake walk.

He had already figured out some estimates on how much it would cost to get skating passes, either for a day or longer if needed, found and documented times ice rinks were open, and even started doing research on possibly opening his own ice rink and searching up possible locations to build it, which would be a lot of money that’s for sure but it would be very beneficial in the end, but he was going to cross that bridge when he came to it. For now he was focusing on how he could practice new routines, and figuring out who would like to join him in his performances.

He thought about having his friends join him like in his fantasization of his show, but that wasn’t going to happen for the longest time. Yuuri was probably going to go on for a few more years with the help of Viktor behind him. Leo and Guang Hong were both younger than him, so they were probably going to stick with it for a while. Chris could possibly help out, but he seemed to be trying to figure things out just like he did so he wasn’t going to push it. Otabek definitely isn’t going to retire anytime soon, and he wasn’t going to push on that. Then there was-

_ DING-DING-DONG!! _

Phichit nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard his notifications go off, forgetting he actually turned it back on today. Against his better judgement, he looked to see who messaged him, and while he didn’t recognize the username, he did recognize this kind of comment.

 

**_Phichit, if I’m allowed to call you that, it’s really sad to see you quit competing. You were one of the main reasons I would watched the competitive circuit. I know lots of my friends are sad to see you’re not in it this year, please come back. We all miss you!_ ** **=(**

 

Phichit pretty much stopped counting how many messages he got from fans who want him to come out of “retirement”, even though it hasn’t even been a full week yet. He thought when he made that post he would get people who understood to a point like Yuuri and Celestino gave him, but with more and more people saying they want him to come back just reminded him why he turned off notifications in the first place. But he wasn’t going to hold any of this against anyone. They were just expressing how they felt about this whole thing, and he had to constantly remind himself that they didn’t know about his plans for the future, and he wasn’t going to make that public knowledge until he got everything planned out. The fact he told Yuuri and Celestino anything was a huge leap from what he planned out.

But he wasn’t going to dwell on this any more than he had to. The longer he focused on comments like this, the less work he could get done on planning his show. In fact, he had to go out and practice some possible routines.

“Ah man! It’s getting late!” While he isn’t the most obsessed about practicing like other skaters tend to be, Phichit likes to get in a few hours of practicing when he can, whether during a competition year or not. And by the looks of the time, he only had about 2 hours until the ice rink he frequented, not counting travel and camera set up time, he didn’t have much time to practice, but he didn’t want to get rusty with his skating, so he was going to go through with it today.

“Camera...camera...where’s the camera!?” For some reason, he couldn’t find his trusty camera that he always brought with him when he went skating to record his routines, since more often than not he would have something just come to him in the middle of practice, and he didn’t want to forget it for the future. That and he loved seeing how he performed his jumps, and seeing how he could land them. “Ah man...okay phone it is.”

Not sure what else to do, he grabbed his phone and rushed out the door with his phone, and tripod in hand, saying goodbye to his hamsters as they slept in their cage. He raced down the street, forgetting to bundle up, and feeling the chill of the Bangkok air hitting his skin as he tried his best not to bump into people on the busy sidewalks. It was the first time in a while that he didn’t decide to listen to music while he was on his walk to the rink, but he’d rather make it there with time to spare and listen to his music there than miss out on another day of skating.

Though luckily for him he didn’t have to wait to long to make it to the rink, but he was clearly out of breath, and had to take a moment before he made his way inside. It wasn’t that busy here today, but it was definitely not deserted and there were quite a few people there, just enjoying themselves as they skated around the rink. Most of which were little kids that were trying to stay on their feet as they were lead by the older kids and the adults they were with. It was such a cute and precious sight that Phichit couldn’t help but take a few candid shots here and there, making sure that he didn’t take too many “creepy” photos that people might snap at him for.

_ Man I remember those times. _ He thought to himself as he saw a little boy, probably just turned five years old, seeming to have the time of his life as he tried to stand up on the ice on his own for the first time. It was really nice to see kids starting off so young in skating, but unfortunately, he couldn’t stay watching people skate for longer, because he didn’t have too much time [in his mind] to go skating.

He managed to find a little area away from the other skaters there, and set up his little tripod and tried his best to set it up so his phone to record him skating. It wasn’t exactly the best set up, but for doing this all at the last minute, it was definitely worth the effort.

“AHH!” Phichit all but dropped his phone, messing up his set up, when he heard someone scream right behind him. When he turned to see a little girl, looking up at him with awe in her eyes, almost as if she was on the verge of tears. “A-Are you Phichit Chulanont?”

“Why yes I am.” He smiled back, kneeling down a bit to make it so he was at eye level with her. “And who might you be?”

“B-...Bitna.” Phichit could tell she was really shy. It probably took all of her nerves to just come up to him.

“I’m so sorry.” Another person said, standing behind the girl. It seemed to be the girls mother, or at least her care giver, and Phichit could see the second hand embarrassment spread on her face. “She saw your performance last year at the Grand Prix. She’s been dying to meet you ever since.”

“Aw I’m touched.” He wasn’t to used to hearing people wanting to meet with him of all people. He was no Viktor Nikiforov, that’s for sure, but the fact he had at least some form of a fan base out there was reassuring. “You mind me asking how long you guys were going to be here?”

“Oh well we were going to head out in a few minutes and take Bitna home.”

“Well, how about we skate a few laps together Bitna. I mean, while you’re here, and if that’s okay with you ma’am.” Phichit could see Bitna’s eyes light up at the offer as she turned to her mom, practically begging her to let her do it.

“Are you okay with that? I don’t want to impose.”

“No no, it’s totally fine. I’ve been meaning to get back on the ice.”

“Well, if that’s alright.” Bitna literally jumped for joy when her mom agreed to it, nearly falling from wearing her skates, which luckily for her she didn’t fall thanks to Phichit and her mom catching her.

Phichit lead little Bitna to the ice, feeling her wobble as she tried to stay upright, and didn’t let go of her hand as they made it onto the ice. Bitna’s mom watched from the sidelines as Phichit and Bitna took their time and started to skate around the rink. Bitna stumbled every once in a while, but Phichit was there to make sure she stayed standing up the whole time. They made a few laps, with Bitna’s mom sneaking a few pics of the two skating before Phichit lead the little girl off the ice.

“That was so fun!” She cheered, trying to hop up and down again as her mom tried to untie her skates.

“Glad you enjoyed it.” Phichit smiled, happy to see her enjoy herself.

“Thank you so much. This is probably going to be the high point of our trip.”

“Happy to help. Be sure to tag me in those pictures you took.”

“Don’t worry, I will.”

“Thank you Mr. Phichit!” Bitna thanked, hopping up from her seat and giving a bow trying to show her gratitude.

“Anytime. Next time you’re in Bangkok we should do this again.” Bitna nodded in excitement from the offer, earning a chuckle from her mother.

“We’ll see how things go. Thank you so much again.”

“It’s really no trouble.” Phichit waved the two of them off as they made their way out of the rink, feeling a proud smile spread on his face.

_ “Attention all skaters. Imperial World Ice Skating will be closing in 5 minutes. Please return all rented out skates and collect your belongings. And have a nice rest of the evening.” _

Phichit was slightly disappointed to hear that the rink was closing and he didn’t get much of a chance to practice, but he was happy to make a little girl’s day to say the least. He picked up his things, packing away his tripod, and putting his headphones in his phone and made his way out and started to walk home. Since he wasn’t in a rush this time around, he had time to actually listen to his music on the walk home.

He was still kind of disappointed in himself that he couldn’t work out skating for the day, but it was his fault for not planning ahead properly and just going with the flow. 

_ I’ll make it a point to get here earlier and get some practicing in. _

It was usually Celestino who would set up skating times for him, but now that he was more or less on his own he had to plan out stuff like this for himself in the future. “Yeah, I can totally do that!” He proclaimed, trying to motivate himself for the future.

He looked down at his phone, seeing that he actually remembered to turn off his notifications before he left the house, though he doesn’t remember ever turning them off and just shrugged it off as he continued to make his way home. There seemed to be less people on the street than there were when he first left, which was kind of nice. It made the walk home more pleasant and let him focus on the song he was listening to. Out of habit, and because he just loved the song so much, he was listening to “Shall We Skate”, making him remember practicing and perfecting his routine. It was all good memories but he couldn’t help but feel a little bit sad about it. He missed practicing the way he did with Celestino, calling up Yuuri when they both needed to unwind and relax when practicing was getting the better of them. He missed all that.

Granted, he could still do those things, but he had to do them in a new way.

Just as he was about to make it to his front steps, he saw his phone start to ring, cutting off the song right when it was about to hit the chorus, and just like the last time, he was shocked to see who was calling him.

He sprinted into his house, not remembering if he locked the door behind him and raced to his room, closing his door behind him as he answered. “H-Hello?”

“Why do you sound like that?” Seung Gil just completely caught him off guard with calling him again, and Phichit didn’t know what to do.

“Oh, well. You just caught me as I was walking in the door. Just a little...out of breath.” Phichit tried to compose himself and let his breath catch up with him as he plopped down on his bed.

“Do you always run in your house when you get home?”

“Not usually. Wait, how do you know I was running in my house?”

“Educated guess.” Seung Gil’s tone was still as uninterested as ever, but Phichit couldn’t help but feel some comfort in his tone.

“Not that I mind or anything, but how come you’re calling me? Did you misdial again?”

“Not this time. I just wanted to test something.”

“‘Test something’?”

“I want to try and take you up on your previous offer of calling you whenever I have the free time after practices.”

“Are you serious?”

“I’m always serious. Do you take back your offer.”

“Wha-no no nononono. Not. At. All. I’m just surprised you’re taking me up on it.”

“Well like I said, I want to test something.”

“Right right.”

“So...what exactly are you supposed to do in calls like this?”

That was a good question, and Phichit didn’t really know how to answer. When it came to texts and the like, he was the best because texts gave him the time to plan out and actually come up with a proper response. And while he didn’t mind calls, he didn’t know how to set it up like texts. Most of the time his friends would call him because they had something they wanted to tell him that couldn’t be portrayed in texts, and vice versa. It had been forever since he had to go through an awkward call like this, and he didn’t want to keep the awkward silence up for longer than he needed.

“Well, usually, people talk about their days.”

“Why would they do that?”

“It just feels nice to relive moments they went through in the day. Here I’ll go first. I went to my local rink near closing time-”

“That’s a bad time to go.”

“Yeah you’re telling me…”  Phichit reluctantly admitted, still beating himself up over that little mishap. “Anyway, it was near closing time, and I ran into a fan of mine. She was just a little girl and seemed to be here on vacation, and we went skating around the rink a few times before she had to leave.”

“What was the point in all that?”

“It was just a way to unwind. And it’s nice seeing people who admire your performances.”

“I see.”

“And yeah, after that the rink closed so I came home, and that’s when you called.”

“That doesn’t sound like a very productive day.”

Phichit could feel a slight pain hit him in the chest when he heard that, but it’s not like he was lying. “Well I was working on some stuff at home before then and just wanted to unwind.”

“I see.”

“So, what was your day like?” He was curious to hear how Seung Gil spent his day, seeing as he had nothing really to go off of.

“I went through three practice sessions today, one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one just recently in the evening. The one in the morning and evening lasted about an hour and a half and mainly focused around my free programs, while the afternoon one lasted close to two and a half hours, but were divided into two different sessions focusing around my short program and my free program with a lunch break in between. I mainly focused on my jumps, making sure my technique works for my new routines. I managed to land most of my jumps in the beginning, but failed to land some near the end of my sessions, which just shows that I can’t use them reliably at the end of routines right now, even though it’s worth the most points at the end, so I’m planning to work on my stamina and my technique so that I’ll be able to more reliably land my jumps near the end of routines. After that I planned to rest up for tomorrow’s sessions and so on.”

Phichit was just dumbfounded to hear Seung Gil actually talk so much in one sitting without any pauses to compose his thoughts or anything.

“Hehe, wow seems like you got everything in order for the next circuit.”

“Of course I do. It’s the best way to make sure you get things done.”

“Maybe you should help me plan out my schedule if you have things all in order for you.” Phichit joked, not fully meaning what he said. He felt like he pushed a little too far because Seung Gil didn’t reply for quite some time. He probably thought he was just so strange for even making a joke like that. “Oh don’t take that seriously, it was just a-”

“Alright.”

“I-...I’m sorry?”

“Alright, I’ll help you schedule.”

Phichit was beyond shocked at what he was hearing. There’s no way he just heard that. “Are...are you serious?”

“Didn’t I say I’m always serious?”

“Well yeah but-”

“Then I’m serious about this.”

“But...but why?”

“After hearing how poorly you planned your skating today, I fear to imagine what it’s like any other day of the week.”

“It’s not that bad-”

“How often have you skated since the last Grand Prix Final?”

“....” Phichit chose not to answer.

“That’s what I thought.”

“But, why do you want to do this? Seriously?”

“I’m still testing out something this year, and I feel this will help me out more than one would expect, so that’s all there is to it.”

“Oh…”

“So, do you want to back out of this offer?”

“No way! It would actually be a huge help!”

“I thought so. Be sure to send me times when your rink is open and any other schedules you may or may not have and I’ll do what I can.”

“Heh, you should just come down to Bangkok if things get too much for ya.”

“I planned on doing something like that in the first place.”

“Serious-”

“Don’t ask me if I’m being serious again.”

“Right, right. Sorry.”

“I have to go now. I’ll call you next point of convenience for me.” And just like that, Seung Gil hung up on him, leaving Phichit in a state of shock.

_ Did that really happen? It had to have, right? _

Of all people, Seung Gil was the one to help him through this. He is beyond grateful, but he’s shocked that something like this was happening to him.

“This year is definitely going to be something…”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seung Gil has finally made the decision to go to Bangkok for an extended amount of time to both help Phichit with his scheduling, and giving himself a new environment to hopefully help in expanding his skating abilities. Though talking with Phichit in one of their many phone calls is nothing in comparison to seeing him in person. Can Seung Gil actually make it through this trip in one piece, or is he going to regret his random plans he chose to make this season?

“Seung Gil Lee! Are you even listening to me!? You need to focus!” Seung Gil rolled his eyes as he heard his coach yelling at him for who knows how many times today.

It was starting to become his routine whenever he’s at practice. He would come in early and plot out calculations and how his routine would score if he executed it perfectly until his coach arrived, and the second they were there he would go on the ice and practice the routines he calculated just prior, getting an earful of yelling from his coach who was basically there for show at this point. While he was grateful for what they did up to this point, Seung Gil was at the point where he didn’t feel the need to have them around. He was mostly doing this stuff by himself and they were more or less a chaperone to watch over him. He didn’t need that anymore.

“Answer me!” He was more than tired of hearing his coach yelling, and just let out a sigh. “Oh are you going to pay attention now.”

“I’ve been listening to you since you’ve arrived. I just don’t wish to acknowledge you because it’s not beneficial to me.”

“Excuse me!”

“Exactly my point.” He looked down at his phone and reread over Phichit’s text explaining his scheduling and everything he asked for the last call they had together a few weeks ago. Since that previous call he would get regular updates on Phichit’s scheduling and sometimes they would even have calls to tell each other about their days. Though Phichit was more than likely to be the one out of the two of them to talk about random incidents that he experienced in the day while Seung Gil would say what he did during practice. In his mind that was all that was worth mentioning.

For being something he wanted to test out, he was surprised how dedicated he had been with keeping up with Phichit. It was the only thing he was so dedicated with aside from his own skating programs. He thought he would have given up on this after a day or two, but here he was, going over Phichit’s scheduling rather than focusing on his own programs.

“Very strange…”

“What?”

“It’s nothing.” He packed away his phone, already packed up his stuff and was more than willing to go home at this point seeing as his practice for the day is over. “Oh, just so you’re aware, I’m going to go train in Bangkok for the rest of this season, so your coaching isn’t needed for the rest of the season..”

“Excuse me? Where did this come from!?” He knew his coach wouldn’t like hearing that, but he didn’t think she’d get even more annoying in her tone.

“I’ll still pay you for the rest of the season as compensation. I just want to try out something different this time around.”

“And what do you expect to accomplish in Bangkok huh? You’ve never even been there before now, so why are you going now?”

“I have someone I want to meet up with down there.”

“Wha-Who?”

“Phichit Chulanont.”

“The one that was in the GPF last year?”

“I figured that would be obvious seeing as that’s where he was from.”

“Why are you going to see him of all people?”

“I figured it would be good to be around someone who actually shows some promise and potential.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” And there goes the pleasant conversation they were having.

“I’m off now. See you next season, probably.” He waved off his coach, getting one last yell fit from her, something he was more than happy to be rid of that toxic relationship, though he was still a bit torn that he was going through with this trip to Bangkok. He had just said it in passing when he told Phichit it, but he was serious about considering going. And now he was actually going to do it.

He had already informed his family about the trip, and they seemed to not really mind or care either way that he was going. In his mind he feels like they’re relieved to have him out of the house and out of the country, but there was no point in voicing that thought out loud.

He had already packed up most of his essentials for the trip, like clothes, toiletries, shoes and all that before he even arrived at practice. All he had to pack now was his skating equipment, and make sure he had all of his money and plane tickets ready. He already said his goodbyes to his parents and was more than ready to just leave, even though no matter how soon he wanted to leave it wouldn’t affect when the plane leaves.

Seung Gil let out a groan, realizing he was starting to give himself a headache over thinking something as simple as leaving for a flight. He decided to give himself a little distraction by saying goodbye to his dog, because he made the decision not to bring them along, not knowing what the weather or climate was like in Thailand, let alone not knowing what the plane ride would be like-...It was just better than what he was doing.

“Seong-Ho.” He called, and his loyal Siberian Husky appeared before him. Seung-Gil kneeled down so he was eye level with his dog, as if it was a human child. “I’m sure you don’t know what’s going on or what I’m saying right now, but I’ll be gone for a while. I’m sure my parents will take care of the house, so you just relax and make sure they take you out for your walks. Bark at them if you have to to get their attention, but not too much or else they’ll make you sleep outside. You don’t want that do you?”  
Whether on reflex or the fact that his dog actually understood him, but Seong-Ho gave what looked like a nod, and Seung Gil was content with that. He took a quick glance at the clock and decided now was as good a time as any to head to the airport. While he still had time, he didn’t want to stay around too long before his parents came over to pick up his dog. The less “good byes” he had to say today the better.

The rest of his day was uneventful as he went to the airport, and made it to his gate and boarded without much events, and he still had a 5+ hour flight to Bangkok, and he still had a lot to think about this trip.

The fact that he was choosing to go to another country not just for his own skating career but someone else’s was a shock. And not only that but it was someone he barely had any conversations with. At least not face to face. Over the past few weeks he managed to have some pretty lengthy conversations with Phichit, and he would also find himself enjoying himself when he heard Phichit talk, feeling a smile start to form on his face every once in a while, but he could never understand why.

He didn’t want to over think it but before he knew it, he was getting the message over the airplanes speakers that they would be landing in Bangkok soon, and to buckle up his seatbelts.

_I didn’t think I would have this much thought on something like that._

Seung Gil picked up his things, and planned to make his way to baggage claim to get the rest of his things.

I guess I should call him and tell him I’ve arrived so I can get his address.  
Once he got off the plane, he took out his phone, and hit the “1” on his speed dial, and heard the phone start to ring on the other end of his phone. What he didn’t expect to hear was a loud [or at least loud to him] ring tone start to go off right as he started to call.

_Strange…_

He took a look around to see where the ringing was coming from, and saw someone start to fumble with their phone, as if it caught them off guard and answered.

“Hello? Seung Gil did you land already!?” He heard Phichit answer on the other end of his phone, at the same time as this weird person at the airport did.

_Don’t tell me…_

“Are you that weird guy that was just juggling his phone in the airport?”

“What? How did you see-? OH!” Phichit’s loud exclamation nearly blew out Seung Gil’s ear. Soon after Phichit hung up, and raced towards Seung Gil, surprising him in a harsh hug, getting a few looks from a few passersby.  
Once his mind started to catch up with what had just happened, he quickly pushed Phichit away from his death grip of a hug to let him get some air.

“It’s good to see you man! Oh wait, hang on,” He quickly took out his phone and pulled Seung Gil in to take a quick selfie. “Awesome pic~!”

“Are you always this _affectionate_ with people you meet at an airport?” Seung Gil started to brush himself off from the constant touching from Phichit, trying to contemplate if it was too late to go back to Korea.

“Not most of the time. It was just a relief when you said you would come down to my home town to help me out!”

“Correction. I’m here to help out myself. Helping you is just something that resulted from this.”

“Well whatever, you’re here now!”

“Do you always have to shout?”

“Only when I’m excited. I’ll calm down once we get you settled.”

“Ah yes, I was actually calling you for that. Where is a good hotel to stay at? I don’t know the area all too well, and online reviews aren’t always reliable.”

“Hotel? No no no. You’re staying at my place, no arguments.”

“Your hou-...? Why would I do that?”

“You’re gonna be here for a while, and I will not be able to sleep at night knowing you’re wasting your money on a hotel when you can stay at my place for free.”

“I couldn’t in good conscious-”

“You know how you’re always serious? Well once I commit to something I don’t let it go, no matter what so this is a battle you’re going to lose.”

Seung Gil let out an annoyed sigh, seeing that he wasn’t going to win no matter what he said and gave up. “Fine.”

“Good! Now come on, let’s get your luggage.” Phichit grabbed Seung Gil by the hand and lead him to baggage claim to get the rest of his things, much to Seung Gil’s dismay, but he didn’t fight him on it. When they made it to baggage claim, Phichit was all but running up and down the conveyor belt searching for Seung Gil’s luggage, even though he didn’t know what his suitcase looked like. Unfortunately for Phichit, Seung Gil didn’t need the help, because he found his suitcase in virtually no time at all.

When he got his things he went over to Phichit, who looked a little disappointed that he couldn’t find the luggage.

“Wait, is that it?” Phichit questioned, surprised to see Seung Gil only had one, fairly small, suitcase for his extended stay.

“Yes. It has all the essentials I need.”

“Did you pack any clothes?”

“A few yes.”

“‘A few’!? Okay, we have to take care of that later. Right now, my mom’s probably frantic waiting for us.”

“Your mother’s here?”

“Yeah! She’s gonna be driving us all home once we meet up with her.”

“Wait, does that mean that you still live with your parents?”

“Well yeah! Why wouldn’t I still be at home? Anyway! We’ve kept my mom waiting for too long, let’s get going!” Phichit took Seung Gil by the hand again, and lead him out to the pick up area, where he saw his mom standing, looking at her phone playing some games.

“Hey mom!” Phichit shouted to get his mom’s attention off of her phone. When she looked up at the two, Seung Gil could even see how much her face lit up. She rushed over to the two of them, quickly putting her phone away.

“Ah hello! You must be Seung Gil Lee my phichit told us about!.” She looked like she was trying to resist the urge to hug Seung Gil. And failing, because only a few seconds had passed since they were face to face with each other that she brought him into a quick, but tight hug, leaving Seung Gil frozen in shock.

Is everyone in his family so affectionate. He was thankful that he didn’t have to suffer through this for long, and Phichit’s mom let him go, but he was still a little frozen in shock.

“Ah it’s so good to finally meet you. Phichit has told me all about you. You two are just a bunch of little chatterboxes aren’t you?” She joked, getting a laugh from Phichit.

Seung Gil didn’t really know how to respond. He didn’t like talking to women in general, but this was Phichit’s mom of all people, and while he would normally just walk away and ignore her, she was his ride to where he was going to be staying, so he was at a weird crossroads.

“C’mon mom, we have to get going. Seung Gil is probably jet lagged, right?” Phichit gave a quick, light jab to the side and shooting him a wink.

_Was he giving me an out?_ Seung Gil didn’t answer, and just nodded in agreement.

“Oh, you poor thing. Alright, let’s get you boys home so you can get some rest.” Phichit’s mom took his bags as they made their way to her parked car a little bit of a walks away from where they were.

“Why did you mother take my things? I would have carried them just fine.”

“Oh you don’t want to get between her and being polite to visitors. No joke, she will fight you on this.”

“So you get it from her, huh?”

“Hm?”

“Nothing, nevermind.” When they made it to the car, Phichit took Seung Gil to the back seat while his mom loaded the trunk with Seung Gil’s luggage. Seung Gil couldn’t really bring himself to comprehend what went on from there. He was slowly getting used to Phichit’s talking and personality when they had their phone conversations, but it was an entirely different story when it came to talking to him in person. The one thing he missed from their phone conversation compared to real life ones is he couldn’t hang up whenever he wanted. There was no hanging up on Phichit now.

It was just endless amounts of one sided talking by Phichit about this, that, and the other, with a few amused glances from his mom from the driver’s seat. There was no way out. So he just had to sit back and take the endless talking, even though he wasn’t entirely listening the entire time of the ride, which just seemed to last forever.

By the time they, finally, managed to make it to the house, Seung Gil felt more drained than he did from riding on the plane.

“Okay we’re here boys.” Phichit’s mom said, much to Seung Gil’s relief. “Oh Phichit, your father and I are going to be out for a while so you make sure Seung here gets situated, alright?”

“Okay mom.” He easily agreed, and Seung Gil didn’t know if he should consider that as a good or bad thing. The two got out and Phichit went to get the suitcases as Seung Gil went to talk to his mom.

“Hope you find the place welcoming Seung.”

“Thank you for your hospitality, ma’am.” Seung Gil thanked, giving a nod to her, just getting a laugh.

“Okay, just let us know if you guys need anything.”

“We will mom, no go. Don’t keep dad waiting.”

“Alright, alright. Later boys.” She waved goodbye to and drove off, only Phichit waving back.

“Come on, let’s go. You probably can’t wait to go lay down.”

“You’re correct on that.” He was more mentally exhausted than physically at this point. They both made their way inside, Phichit not letting Seung Gil carry his stuff, but he was too tired to argue. Seung Gil was surprised how big Phichit’s house actually was. Now it wasn’t gigantic, but it was much larger than Seung Gil’s house back home, and was a two story house compared to his one story little apartment he had. He was thinking too much about this, and Phichit was getting ahead of him.

“Come on in, I’ll take you to your room.” That was all Seung Gil needed to hear to get moving.  
When they made it inside, Seung Gil took a quick look around at the inside of the house. It was very bright and open, pictured covered the walls with no real sense of organization or order so he couldn’t tell if they were just trying to tell a story or they were just literally random pictures they chose to frame.

“The guest room’s upstairs. I’ll show ya.” Phicht headed towards the stairs that were near the front entrance, struggling to carry all of Seung Gil’s things upstairs, but Seung Gil wasn’t going to offer help that he knew for a fact was going to be rejected, and it was slightly amusing seeing Phichit have some trouble. When they made it to the top of the stairs, Phichit was out of breath, and Seung Gil was just unamused that he wasn’t in his room yet.

“So, where’s the guest room you were talking about?” He was taking a look around, just to see even more photos upstairs than there were downstairs, and even more random than they were before.

“Second door, on the right…” Phichit gasped in between breaths. “I’ll meet you there.” Seung Gil didn’t know why Phichit was so out of breath. It’s not like his luggage was that heavy, at least not to him.

He made his way down the hall and found the room Phichit told him about, and found the room to be pretty...cozy?  
It wasn’t anything like the rest of the house. There weren’t a flood of photos, and it wasn’t as bright as the rest of the house. If anything, this was more like his house than his actual home in Korea. It was kind of scary now that he thought about it.

_Did they make it like this on purpose?_ Kind of relieved and kind of flattered [if that was even possible], Seung Gil made his way to the bed and took a seat. It even feels like the bed back home...He could feel his body start to relax as he fell back on the bed and looked up the ceiling. _So I’m actually here...wonder what will happen now..?_

He was still trying to process that he was finally here, even though he never had the thought of traveling here outside of competitions before he started talking with Phichit, and now he’s here, under the same roof as him, willing choosing to help him with his skating and scheduling his skating while Seung Gil tried to plan out his routines for this year’s competition. How he was going to do this, and why he agreed to do this in the first place still confused him, but there was no turning back now.

“How d’you like the room?” Phichit ask as he finally made his way inside, putting Seung Gil’s things in the corner of the room.

“It’s fine.” Seung Gil replied, not getting up from the bed.

“Well, glad you like it. So, I’m just going to let you rest up. My parents are probably going to come back late, but they won’t come in and bother you. My room’s right next door if you need anything so don’t hesitate to ask for anything.”

“Noted.”

“Well, if that’s all you need now, I’ll let you rest up. Let me know if you need anything.”

“I heard you the first time.” He waved off Phichit who made his way out of the room, leaving Seung Gil alone.  
He could finally bring himself to rest. He felt his eyes shut and he just couldn’t bring himself to stay awake anymore, and felt himself drift off to sleep.

_Here’s hoping I can keep my sanity in tact..._


End file.
